At the heart of Washington D.C, atop one of the city's most imposing skyscrapers, the sleek and shimmering headquarters of alchemax loomed over the skyline.
On the top floor, the air inside the executive boardroom was thick with self-congratulation and unmasked malice.
Tyler Stone, the CEO of Alchemax, sat at the head of a long, obsidian-black table. His smile was thin and calculated, matching the cold gleam in his eyes.
He adjusted the platinum cufflinks on his tailored suit as he addressed the gathered board members.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our advancements in Project Vanguard are on track, and I expect tangible results soon," Stone said, his voice smooth and dripping with superiority.
"The warship currently sailing Earth has proven invaluable for gathering 'volunteers' for our experiments. Our off- grid labs are breaking ground on new bioweapons as we speak."
He glanced around the room, noting the sycophantic nods of approval.
"Additionally," he continued, "our research facilities in the Arctic have made progress on the Project Aegis prototypes. The adaptability trials with our enhanced soldiers are showing promise.
But..." He let the word linger, savoring the unease it sparked."We need to ensure absolute loyalty. We don't need another repeat of the Arizona incident."
The mention of Arizona drew murmurs. Everyone in the room remembered the "incident" that left an entire facility in ruins.
Stone silenced the noise with a sharp look, his eyes as predatory as a hawk's.
"Moving on," he said, reclining slightly.
"What's the status of the corporate prison programs? The prisoner transfer from the warship was scheduled for . . ."
Out of nowhere. A deafening rumble shook the entire building, cutting his monologue.
The floor quaked violently, causing water glasses to topple and shatter. The ceiling lights flickered, then dimmed, plunging the room into an eerie semi-darkness.
The board members gripped the table or stumbled out of their seats, exchanging panicked glances.
"What the hell was that?" snarled one of the executives, his voice trembling.
Before anyone could answer, the shrill ring of the emergency phone broke the silence.
Tyler Stone leaned back, his expression barely shifting from its composed mask, though his jaw tightened slightly.
He gestured for his assistant to answer.
The assistant snatched up the receiver. "What's going on—?"
The meeting room froze as the hysterical voice on the phone screamed, "They've breached the lobby! It's—oh my God, they're massacring every—" The line cut off with static, then an explosion.
Tyler Stone's lip curled in disdain as he activated a holographic feed of the building's first floor. The chaos it displayed was nothing short of a vision of hell on earth.
Hundreds of figures walked through the Alchemax lobby each and everyone of them Is armed to the teeth with enough weapons to tuppel down a city!!
Hardened mercs. Legendary Assassins, and even some big shot crime lords were among this large crowd
There was even some mutants In the middle of all of this for some reasons as well
Deadpool
Sabretooth
lady deathstrike
kingpin
Green Goblin
These are some of the people who are invading the building at the time. All of the people in here are pushing toward the next floor with a relentless vigor that the board member never seen before in their whole life!!
It was as if getting to the top of this building was the most important thing in their live right now
"W-what the hell is this!!?" one of the board members stammered, pointing to the screen.
Stone didn't answer. His eyes narrowed as he saw Lady deathstrike leaping effortlessly over everyone while slashing every security system in her way while smirking at the destruction.
Deadpool stood nearby, casually mimicking the movements of a terrified guard before dispatching him with bullet to the head.
Even kingpin himself appeared at the fringes, his massive frame unshaken as he ran through with heavy as if he was a living tank while being followed by his henchmen
And then out of nowhere a huge military bus smashed through the wall and from it a group of mercenaries followed a big name merc called Crossbones, who barked orders with military precision while shooting high explosive calibers grenade launcher adding layers to the overwhelming tide of invaders.
"This... this is madness," one of the board members stuttered, his voice trembling.
Tyler Stone pressed a hidden button on the console before him, his jaw clenched tight. A powerful microphone activated, his voice booming throughout the building.
"Attention!" Tyler Stone's voice thundered over the chaos. "This is Tyler Stone, CEO of Alchemax. I don't know what pathetic motivations have brought you here, but let me make this simple for you. You're hired muscle, criminals, and scum—so let's talk business. Whatever you're being paid, I will double it. No, triple it. Walk away now, and you'll leave richer than you've ever dreamed. Choose violence, and you'll find yourselves buried under Alchemax's wrath."
The lobby seemed to pause. For a moment, all eyes turned upward as Stone's commanding tone echoed through the structure. Even the destruction halted briefly, leaving an uneasy silence in its wake.
Then, slowly, a laugh began to bubble up from the crowd. Bullseye was the first to chuckle, wiping a smear of blood off his face. Sabretooth let out a low, guttural laugh that quickly rose into a roar. Rhino snorted like a bull about to charge, while Green Goblin doubled over on his glider, howling like a lunatic.
The laughter spread like wildfire, from Shocker to Carnage to Kingpin, until the entire lobby erupted in unison, their cruel amusement reverberating off the walls.
Stone's smug expression faltered, his pale eyes narrowing in disbelief. For a man who wielded power like a weapon, the mockery was an unexpected blow.
"What the hell is this?" growled Stone growled in anger
Stone slammed his hand on the table while yelling out, his tone now sharp and venomous.
"Why are these low life laughing at me?!" he demanded, anger dripping from every word coming from his mouth.
"Well, anyone would laugh if they were told they will get three dollars don't you think?"
A deep dark voice echoed from the corner of the room leading everyone to snap their head to see which crazy fucker said that.
From the shadows, a tall, menacing figure emerged—a long white cape billowing behind him, a skull-shaped mask concealing his face. He strode to the center of the room, his presence heavy, unnerving.
In his right hand, a bloodied one-handed sword gleamed under the dim light. With a slow, deliberate motion, he wiped the crimson stains away using the tip of his own cape.
"Who are you?" Stone asked, locking eyes with the invader while reaching to a button on the back of his desk.
The masked invader seethed his weapon and with theatrical moves and half bowed.
"Taskmaster at your services, a combat instructor and part-time mercenary. O' soon to be dead ladies and gentlemens."
He then followed hat by pointing at the desk which stone stood at.
"Also, I won't bother calling for help with that button of yours. After all, the dead aren't much use to the living."
A short silence engulfed the room before someone screamed out.
"Wait… I know you!" A balding, overweight board member suddenly blurted out, pointing at Taskmaster. His previously bored expression twisted into disbelief.
"Your Taskmaster!!"
"We hired you a few times for jobs back in '99! Why the hell are you invading us now, you son of a ..."
Before he could finish, Stone raised a hand, silencing him with a sharp glare. His icy stare locked onto Taskmaster.
"What do you mean by three dollars?"
Taskmaster tilted his head, his body language oozing mock amusement. "Really? That's what caught your attention? Not the part where I said I killed your bodyguards, but the bounty on your head?"
He let out a dry chuckle. "Damn billionaires and their fragile egos."
"Answer the damn question!" Stone snapped.
"Fine, fine. I suppose I've got a little time before those idiots downstairs figure out how elevators work."
With a lazy flick of his wrist, Taskmaster tapped a compact computer on his armband.
The boardroom holographic display flickered, hijacked in an instant. The screen shifted, revealing pre recorded video.
It revealed the hero of our story, Noah, standing at the center of a luxurious room—tall, imposing, effortlessly menacing. His arms were crossed over his chest, his stance deceptively relaxed, yet his presence filled the space like death itself.
His sharp gaze bore into the camera as he began to speak.
"Evening, scumbags of the underworld."
His voice was smooth, casual—yet laced with something unmistakably dangerous.
"Tonight, I come to you not as a bounty hunter, but as a bounty provider."
"You see, I'm a little busy at the moment with other matters that demand my attention. So, I'm leaving this particular job in your hands."
He leaned in slightly, and his eyes began to shine brighter and brighter by every passing moment
"Alchemax's CEO, Tyler Stone, and the rest of his board of parasites."
"Take care of them for me, and I'll give you two rewards—both of which will change your lives forever."
He held up a single finger.
"The first reward… is one dollar."
A pause. A deliberate, dragging silence.
"Yes, you heard me right. One dollar."
Somewhere, an unseen audience might have scoffed. Maybe even started to walk away. But Noah's smirk widened as if he expected that.
"Oh, some of you might already be reaching to turn off the screen." His tone darkened, voice dipping into something eerily knowing.
"But I assure you… you'll want to hear the rest of my offer before you go. Ignore me now, and I guarantee you'll regret it."
His smirk sharpened into something crueler.
"The reason I'm offering such a laughable monetary reward is for one reason and one reason only."
"To humiliate these good-for-nothing bastards who think they're better and more important than everyone at Alchemax."
"How funny will it be when they start begging for their lives? When they offer to double—even triple—what I promised you?"
He let out a low, amused chuckle.
"Ahh… I would have loved to see their faces myself, but alas It can't be helped."
His fingers curled into a fist, and then, slowly, he extended a second finger.
"But humor alone doesn't fill the bottomless, greedy pits you call hearts. So let's move on to what you should be looking forward to."
"The second reward… is a favor."
"You can ask me anything, and I'll make it happen. World domination? I'll make you the ruler of it all. Wealth? Consider your fortune limitless. Sick? Dying? I'll return you to your prime in a heartbeat."
His gaze sharpened, the weight of his words pressing into those watching.
"Even if someone was stolen from you too soon—someone who's already fallen into death's cold embrace—I will reach beyond the veil and pull them back"
"And I don't mean some cheap trick like turning them into vampires or hollowed-out husks of their former selves. No, no."
He shook his head, his expression almost offended by the thought.
"I will bring them back whole. Alive. As if they had never been taken from you. For yours truly does not believe in half-measures."
"You'll be able to hold them again. Live with them again." His voice softened, but the weight of it crushed harder than before. "That, I promise you."
"Now, I know what some of you are thinking." His voice remained calm and almost casual.
"Who the hell is this guy? Why should we believe him? What makes him so powerful that he can promise something like this?"
He let the question hang in the air, his smirk disappeared completely and then, he raised his hand and placed it over the camera.
Darkness.
A heartbeat later, the feed shifted. The boardroom, the city, the very world itself vanished.
Now, only the vast emptiness of space remained. A boundless stretch of stars, distant galaxies shimmering like specks of dust.
The camera adjusted, its new perspective revealing a celestial body ahead—an ancient white dwarf planet, its surface full of blue energies that clashed with everything around it.
Noah's voice returned, quieter because of space but no less commanding.
"This," he said, gesturing toward the dead planet, "is somewhere far beyond your reach. A place no human eye will ever see. A relic floating in some forgotten corner of the universe."
His expression remained unreadable as he extended a single hand toward the planet, fingers relaxed, palm open.
A brilliant golden light erupted from his palm, streaking toward the white dwarf below with astonishing speed. It raced toward its target—and then, without warning, vanished into the planet's surface.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Murmurs spread through the boardroom. Some exchanged skeptical glances, while others smirked, convinced that Noah had either failed or had simply been boasting.
A few even chuckled under their breath.
But then—
A tremor rippled through the distant world. The surface groaned as unseen forces wrenched at its very foundation. Light bled from its core, cracks forming across its expanse like veins of molten fire. The planet screamed—not in sound, but in sheer, visible agony.
Then, in an instant, it collapsed on itself.
A bright, crushing force. Silent yet absolute, imploded the celestial body.
Gravity itself warped as the star-core remnants detonated outward, sending a brilliant, blinding wave of destruction across the void.
The explosion illuminated the surrounding space, debris scattering like dust in a hurricane before fading into the eternal night.
The camera then turned, focusing once more on Noah, now standing where the planet had been moments ago.
His expression remained unchanged, not a trace of effort could be seen in his posture.
"The ball's in your court now," he said simply.
"You know where to find me after you're done with my request."
Then the feed cut to black.
The room fell into a suffocating silence. Every board member—save for Taskmaster—sat frozen, their minds struggling to process what they had just witnessed.
Then, as realization set in, a ripple of terror spread through them.One by one, they began to tremble.
Hands shook. Breath heavy.
The weight of what they had seen settled in like a crushing force.
A wiry man with a receding hairline swallowed hard. "I-Isn't that the same merc who rose through the underworld ranks not too long ago?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Then next the head of Alchemax's security division, clenched his fists, his face pale. "H-he's just a hired gun! How the hell does someone like that have that kind of power?!"
The CFO of Alchemax, shook her head violently, her breath coming in short gasps. "No—no, it's fake! It has to be fake!" she shrieked, desperation clinging to every word.
A man drenched in sweat, suddenly bolted upright, his eyes wide with panic. "I can't die! I won't die!" His gaze darted wildly before locking onto Stone. "Stone, do something!!"
Stone himselfs had turned as pale as snow, his mind racing for an escape—until suddenly—
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion erupted from a few floors below signaling that the people from below are coming close.
"Well, gentlemen, it seems we're short on time," Taskmaster said, his tone grim. "I would've enjoyed a longer chat, but alas—time to die."
He raised his pistol, aiming directly at Stone, who stood frozen in the center.
His finger tightened on the trigger. . . But out of nowhere he noticed something.
A faint flash from a nearby building caught Taskmaster's eye.
Behind a scope stood a man in a long coat, a dark shirt imprinted with a white skull.
Sniper!!
The man behind the sniper scope pulled the trigger on his weapon and a high velocity round was let a loose.
Taskmaster knew there was no time to shove his target aside. So Instead, his reflexes kicked in and with superhuman speed, he adjusted his aim and fired—twice.
The board members flinched, assuming Taskmaster was executing their CEO. But they had no idea.
The first bullet met the sniper's round midair, a high-speed collision that sent sparks flying. But it wasn't enough—the sniper's bullet tore through, still racing toward Stone's head.
hat was fine. Taskmaster never meant to stop it. He just wanted to slow it
His second bullet followed close behind, striking the sniper round at an unnatural angle.
A fraction of a second before impact, the trajectory shifted—Instead of piercing Stone's skull, the bullet drilled into his shoulder.
"AAAAARGH!"
Stone clutched his wounded shoulder, screaming in pain as he collapsed behind his desk.
The board members seeing this scrambled toward the exit, desperate to flee but. . .
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
They never made it. Taskmaster had already gunned them down.With practiced efficiency, he then reloaded, ready for the real fight.
His gaze locked onto the figure in the distance.
"Punisher! You son of a bitch, you're not stealing my prize again!!!"
From within his cloak, Taskmaster pulled out a semi-automatic high-voltage sniper rifle laser—a weapon that crackled with deadly red energy.
What followed was an all-out firefight. Both men unleashed a relentless storm of gunfire, neither willing to give an inch.
Muzzle flashes lit up the battlefield, bullets and energy rounds slicing through the night.Then, without warning, the Punisher hesitated.
His eyes moved to something unseen, and In an instant, he slung his weapon over his shoulder and—zip!—launched himself across the skyline with a zipline.
Taskmaster fired after him, but Punisher moved fast, zipping from building to building, vanishing into the shadows.
Again. And again.Until he was gone.
Out of Taskmaster's line of sight.
"Serves you right, you crazy psychopath!"
Taskmaster scoffed as he sheathed his weapon, striding toward Stone's desk to claim his prize.
But then—he heard it.
A distant, low whistle. Faint at first. But with every step, it grew louder. Sharper.
His instincts screamed at him.
Taskmaster spun toward the open window, sprinting to see what the hell was happening.
"What the hell!!?""
An airplane.
Flying toward the tower at maximum speed
And If that outrageous enough, his met the pilot.
His blood ran cold.
Without hesitation, Taskmaster grabbed Stone and slashed through the floor with the laser blade on his wrist, carving an escape route.
He dropped down, descending the tower level by level—running like the devil himself was on his heels.
For the first time since he set foot in this place, Taskmaster felt something he hadn't in a long time.
Fear.
Not because of the commercial airplane hurtling toward Alchemax Tower.
Because of the man flying it.
You want to know who could make Taskmaster run?
A man named Marc Spector.
Also known as...
Moon Knight.
That lunatic was a walking plague who brought only misfortune to Taskmaster whenever they encountered each other.
So whenever Taskmaster saw him nowadays, there was only one option—run.
Faster,faster.
He was already halfway down the building, Stone slung over his shoulder. Maybe just maybe he'd make it out in time.
But then...
BOOOM!!
The Fist of Khonshu has hit the Alchemax Tower.